Raw Vegan Carrot Cake
on Aug 02, 2019, Updated Jul 18, 2024
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This raw vegan carrot cake with cashew frosting is easy to make with no baking required. It’s healthy enough for a daily treat and decadent enough for a special occasion. This recipe is gluten-free and refined sugar-free.
This beautiful, raw vegan carrot cake is naturally sweetened, topped with delicious cashew “cream cheese” frosting and easy to prepare in minutes. The dough is soft with the perfect amount of spice and carrot cake flavor – you’ll love it!
Don’t expect this to taste like a fluffy carrot cake with loads of cream cheese frosting. The texture of this “cake” is more dense and somewhat like an energy bar than an actual cake. I actually used the dough to roll a few carrot cake balls and that works great too!
If you don’t have a springform pan, the dough can be pressed into a saran or parchment paper-lined square baking dish and cut into squares once firm.
How to Make this Recipe
This recipe is very easy to make. It requires two steps: blending up the carrot cake “dough” and blending the cashew frosting.
The raw dough is made from nuts, dates and of course, carrots. Paired with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and vanilla, it’s full of flavour and taste like like carrot cake!
After you’re blended up the dough, you’ll press it into a springform pan and then move on to the cashew frosting. If you have a high-speed blender such as a Vitamix, you can get away without soaking the cashews. If not, I’d recommend soaking them for 4 hours up to overnight.
In a pinch, you can pour boiling water over them and soak for 20 minutes before using but the longer they soak, the smoother and creamier the frosting will be.
Serving
After the frosting has set in the freezer, you’ll want to let it soften a bit before slicing and serving. After it comes out of the freezer, 15 minutes should be just right, however, you can slice and serve earlier if needed using a hot knife.
The cake is best serve chilled but not frozen. It can be left at room temperature but the frosting will soften as it continues to sit and the coconut oil melts.
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- Carrot Cake Energy Balls
- No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Raw Mango Cheesecake
- No-Bake Chocolate Caramel Bars
- No-Bake Chocolate Cheesecake
- Vegan Carrot Cake
Did you try this recipe? I’d love to hear about it! Scroll down to the comment section to leave a star rating and review.
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Raw Vegan Carrot Cake with Cashew Frosting
Ingredients
- For the Carrot Cake
- 1/2 cup raw almonds, pecans or walnuts
- 1/2 cup coconut flour, 70 g
- 1 1/4 cup finely grated carrots
- 1 1/4 cup packed, pitted medjool dates (280 g, see notes)
- 1/4 cup unsweetened fine shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp water, if needed to adjust consistency
- For the Cashew Frosting
- 1.5 cups cashews, soaked for 4-8 hours, drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
- Place the nuts and coconut flour into a food processor and mix until the nuts are broken down.
- Add the dates and process to combine into a thick dough.
- Add the rest of the carrot cake ingredients and pulse until just combined. Over-mixing will result in a denser cake.
- Press the dough into a 7-9 inch springform pan (a 7 inch pan was used in the photos, a 9 inch pan will result in a thinner cake).
- Blend the cashews frosting ingredients until smooth and creamy.
- Spread the frosting over the cake and then place in the freezer until the frosting is firm to the touch.
- When you’re ready to serve, if the cake is frozen allow it to sit at room temperature for 15-30 minutes then go ahead and slice and serve. If it’s just firm, slice and serve immediately. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 1 week or freezer for up to 2 months.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally published May 3, 2013.
Just made these and they taste divine! I just used more shredded coconut in olace of the coconut flour and it worked a charm.
One thing i’d do differently is do more of the cake mixture and less frosting of the frosting next time 🙂
I made this for Mother’s Day and everyone loved it! It was relatively easy to make, my only issue was that my cake part was thinner than I expected. I’m not sure what size my pan was but it was probably a 9″ so I’d recommend using a 7″ 🙂
Carrot cake has always been my favorite dessert, so I was very eager to try this recipe! I am pretty new to the vegan diet, but I’m loving it so far and I am feeling great! This carrot cake was delicious. I had my sister try a piece (non vegan), and she was even surprised by how full of flavor it was.
Wonderful! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know!
i made this last week and it was so good (and eaten within 24 hours!) that i had to make a double batch this weekend! thanks for sharing such an awesome recipe! (i am sure i will be making another carrot cake very, very soon..)
I am so glad to hear that, Sue!! Also, thanks for reminding me I need to make it again!